HMS ''Bickerton'' was a of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She served during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a convoy escort and

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

vessel in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

and was an effective

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

killer, being credited with the destruction of two U-boats during a service career of just 10 months. ''Bickerton'' was lost in action on 22 August 1944.

Name

Originally this ship was provisionally given the name USS ''Eisele'' (this name was reassigned to ). However the delivery was diverted to the

before launch, and she was renamed for Sir Richard Bickerton commander of at the

First Battle of Ushant The Battle of Ushant (also called the First Battle of Ushant) took place on 27 July 1778, and was fought during the American Revolutionary War between French and British fleets west of Ushant, an island at the mouth of the English Channel off ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Construction

''Bickerton'' was ordered on 10 January 1942, as DE-75, a long-hulled turbo-diesel ( TE) type destroyer escort, one of more than 500 such vessels built for ASW to a collaborative British-American design. She was laid down on 3 May 1943, by the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard in

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on B ...

. She was launched on 24 July and completed 17 October, in the remarkably (but not unusually) short build time of 5 months 14 daysThe similar-sized

River-class frigate The River class was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic. The majority served with the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), with some serving in the other Al ...

s had a typical build time of over 12 months.

Service career

On commissioning and working up ''Bickerton'' sailed for Britain, where she was modified to meet Royal Navy requirements. In March 1944 she was allocated to

Western Approaches Command Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...

as senior ship of 5th Escort Group under her new captain, Cdr. D MacIntyre In April 5EG joined ON 233 as support group, but was detached to hunt for a U-boat on weather-reporting duty. On 6 May 1944, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

was found and sunk in the North Atlantic by

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s from ''Bickerton'', operating alongside two

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used ...

( No. 825 Squadron) of the

escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...

and frigates and . Of the crew of ''U-765'', 37 died and 11 survived. A further search for the U-boat sent as ''U-765s relief was unsuccessful. In June ''Bickerton'' and 5EG were deployed in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

as part of

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, the naval component of the Normandy landings. Their task was to guard against interference by U-boats from the Biscay ports. On 15 June the group was in an unsuccessful action against a U-boat, during which the frigate '' Mourne'' was sunk. (The U-boat, '' U-767'', was caught three days later and destroyed by 14 EG.)Blair p.592 Ten days later on 25 June, off Start Point, ''Bickerton'' and 5 EG found and sank . Of the crew of ''U-269'', 13 died and 39 survived.

Fate

in August 1944 ''Bickerton'' and 5EG were escorting the escort carriers ( and ) from the Home Fleet (under Admiral Moore), which covered the

convoy JW 59 A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

and launched further attacks (

Operation Goodwood Operation Goodwood was a British offensive during the Second World War, which took place between 18 and 20 July 1944 as part of the larger battle for Caen in Normandy, France. The objective of the operation was a limited attack to the south, ...

) on the German

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

in Altenfjord. Before the group was able to launch an attack on ''Tirpitz'', encountered them on her search for the convoy northwest of the North Cape in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

. At about 01:00 on 22 August, at position , ''U-354'' badly damaged ''Nabob'' with a pattern-running FAT torpedo spread. The U-boat then tried to sink her at 01:22 with a

GNAT A gnat () is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae. They can be both biting and non-biting. Most often they fly in large num ...

homing torpedo, which struck ''Bickerton''. She was subsequently scuttled by a torpedo from , to focus the recovery effort on ''Nabob''. Two days later ''U-354'' was herself sunk attacking convoy JW 59.

Battle honours

''Bickerton'' earned the following battle honours for service: ''Battle Honours''
at britainsnavy.co.uk; retrieved 22 July 2020 *

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

1944 * English Channel 1944 *

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

1944 *

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

1944

Successes

During her service ''Bickerton'' was credited with the destruction of two U-boats.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

HMS ''Bickerton''
at uboat.net

at navalhistory.net
captainclassfrigates.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickerton (K466) Buckley-class destroyer escorts Captain-class frigates Ships built in Hingham, Massachusetts World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea 1943 ships Maritime incidents in August 1944 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II